Per the Centers for Disease Control new HIV infections in the United States have declined in 2021, however statistics show that approximately 32,000 people in the United States were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2021. The study also mentions that African American and Latino/ Hispanic communities are contracting the HIV virus more often than other communities. In the CDC’s article written on May 23rd, 2023 “Most new HIV infections in 2021 were among gay and bisexual men, the majority of whom were Black or Hispanic/ Latino. About one-fifth of new HIV infections in 2021 were among women, over half of those were among Black women”.
To read the Press Release, and in depth article from the CDC click here: HIV Declines Among Young People and Drives Overall Decrease in New HIV Infections | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC
What does this mean. It means we must educate ourselves and our communities, and we must talk about HIV/ AIDS prevention. To fight this epidemic we must continue to educate our communities about safe sex, abstinence, and abstaining from injection drug use. There is a national goal to end the HIV/ AIDS epidemic in the US by the year 2030.
People need to know that there are preventative medicines available that can help protect a person from contracting the HIV virus. There is a link on the CDC website for a program: Ready, Set, PrEP (hiv.gov) . This program which is based in the United States “provides free PrEP HIV prevention medication to thousands of people living in the United States, including tribal lands and territories, who qualify.”
To qualify for the “Ready, Set, PrEP” program a person must prove that they do not have health insurance coverage for prescription drugs. They must have a valid prescription for PrEP from a health care provider. They need to have the health care provider’s name and phone number to enroll. One must also have taken a HIV test and received a negative result. Per their website “if you receive PrEP through “Ready, Set PrEP” you will not have to pay for the medicine.”
There is also an emergency preventative HIV medicine called PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis). Per the CDC’s website PEP | HIV Basics | HIV/AIDS | CDC it “means taking medicine to prevent HIV after a possible exposure. PEP should be used only in emergency situations and must be started within 72 hours after a recent possible exposure to HIV. ” That means if someone feels that they have experienced a high risk event they may be able take PEP to prevent an HIV infection. I was not even aware of this until doing research for this article. People need to know that this is an option.
Educating ourselves and our communities about HIV Prevention is important. It matters. Let’s continue to educate each other, especially our youth. If you have any questions about HIV prevention click on the following link: Contact Us | HIV.gov . Or contact your local health care provider and demand access to medicines if you or anyone you know might need them.
Community Rising! 